Automated software tools have long been used to autonomously interact with computer software applications, such as to discover the various components of an application for mapping purposes, or to identify programming errors and security vulnerabilities in an application. For example, one such tool, commonly known as a “crawler,” is often used to navigate a web site by traversing its web pages and other computer-based documents along hyperlinks, such as Universal Resource Locators (URLs), embedded in the documents that indicate the locations of other documents. Another such tool, commonly known as a “black-box tester,” is often used to interact with an application, such as an Internet-based “web” application, by activating interface elements such as its menus and buttons, and by providing data input through interface elements such as textboxes.
One of the challenges faced by such tools relates to prioritizing the interactions performed with an application, as some interactions may be of greater importance than others. For example, when mapping the web pages that comprise a web site, it is typically more important to traverse a hyperlink that leads to a destination within the web site than to traverse a hyperlink that leads to a different web site, such as where the hyperlink is part of an advertisement. Similarly, when black-box testing an application, it is typically more important to interact with interface elements that are associated with the application's business logic than to interact with interface elements that provide content, such as menu options for accessing “About” or “FAQ” information. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to make such determinations heuristically or otherwise without manual intervention.
Another challenge relates to determining whether an area of an application was previously evaluated, in which case it need not be evaluated again. For example, where traversing a hyperlink leads to a web page whose hyperlinks were previously traversed, its hyperlinks need not be traversed again. Unfortunately, where some of a web page's hyperlinks change dynamically from access to access, it is likewise difficult to make such determinations.